MAP24: Military Base (Console Doom)

MAP24: Military Base is the first secret level of most console versions of Doom, based on the original E1M9: Military Base with modifications made to accommodate consoles' limitations. The author of the conversion is American McGee and the original author of the map is John Romero. The map first appeared in the Atari Jaguar version, and is additionally used in the 3DO, Sega 32X, Game Boy Advance, Sony PlayStation, and Sega Saturn versions. In the Jaguar, 3DO and 32X versions, this is the only secret level available in the game.

Despite being from the Knee-Deep in the Dead episode, the level incorrectly uses the hellish sky from Inferno on many of the above ports. Whether or not this is an aesthetical feature or an oversight, some other console releases (namely Sony PlayStation, Sega Saturn and 3DO) use the correct sky from Knee-Deep in the Dead.

In the PlayStation and Saturn ports, this map occupies the MAP56 slot, but it is otherwise identical to the version which occurs as MAP24 in other ports. In all versions of the game, it is reached by finding the secret exit in. Finishing this level will take the player to.

Essentials
You begin in a short corridor; at the end of this corridor is an outdoor courtyard containing imps in a "cage". Enter the courtyard and go down the stairs to the west and go straight forward to pick up the yellow keycard. Return to the courtyard and go down the stairs to the east. Turn right, open the yellow door, and pick up the red keycard in the middle of the room. Leave the room through the other yellow door to the west, continue west through a room with a large "box" pillar with two torches, and go down the stairs and through the red door. Cross to the far wall of that room and turn left; you should see a switch behind a row of barrels. Shoot the barrels from a safe distance and press the switch. This raises the "box" pillar in the previous room to reveal the blue keycard. Get the key, then return to the central courtyard and go down the stairs to the north.

Behind the blue door is the exit room; the exit switch is visible across a nukage canal, but is presently inaccessible. Jump into the canal and follow it around (in either direction) to a platform with a knife switch and an imp. When you step onto the platform, a passage will open behind you. Throw the switch, then enter the passage. Follow it to a lift, and go through the hidden door at the top of the lift. You will now see a wide bridge across the canal. Cross the bridge and throw the switch to finish the level.

Other points of interest
North of the yellow keycard room is a room containing a rocket launcher. When you step onto the red star, however, the north wall opens to reveal a number of monsters. A berserk pack can be found at the back of the alcove they emerge from.

In the room east of the central courtyard, the brightly-lit sector along the east wall is a lift that lowers when stepped on. This brings you to an outdoor area containing three tall pillars with imps on top, as well as a medikit and armor. Crossing to the powerups will cause the pillars to lower.

Taking the red keycard opens a wall to the south-east, revealing additional monsters. A medikit can be found in the alcove they emerge from.

The switch that reveals the blue keycard also opens a second passage back to the previous room (on the south wall, behind some barrels). It contains a medikit, a box of bullets, and a box of shells.

Secrets

 * 1) In the room east of the central courtyard, a hidden lift in the south-west corner drops down into a nukage pool. In the pool is a platform holding a chaingun and three boxes of bullets. (sector 16) You can also reach this area using a lift hidden in the north-east corner of the room south of the central courtyard.
 * 2) In the exit room, there is a hidden door in the east wall indicated by a misaligned texture. Behind the door (sector 65) is a room with items atop pillars, including a backpack, a chainsaw, and several large ammo pickups. As you reach the bottom of the staircase, a lift will drop near the far wall, allowing you to ride to the top of the tallest pillar. To collect the items, jump carefully from pillar to pillar: back up as far as you can without falling off, run toward the next pillar, then stop quickly as you land. If you make a mistake, just return to the steps to lower the lift again. It is easiest to go around the pillars counter-clockwise, from highest to lowest.

Bugs
In some console ports, this level is incorrectly given the Hell sky from Inferno. This is due to a function in Doom source code which decides which sky to use on a level by checking the map number. If the number is more than or equal to 18 than the Hell sky is applied to that level. This error was corrected in the Sony PlayStation, Sega Saturn and 3DO releases which use the Knee-Deep in the Dead sky.

In the Game Boy Advance version of the game, the player will not be offered a chance to save the game when entering this level and so it must be finished in the same play session as MAP03. This is most likely a programming oversight related to the fact that it is the only level in that version of the game reached through a secret exit.

The ceiling of the platform in the nukage canal behind the exit switch is high enough that the switch texture tiles twice vertically. It is possible to see the bottom part of the second switch when approaching the platform from the north. This bug is inherited from the PC version of the level.

PlayStation / Saturn
In the PlayStation release, the sound data for lost souls spat from a pain elemental is never loaded into memory on this map resulting in the lost souls having silent attacks (the death and the pain sounds are still preserved, with the former being identical to any projectile hit and the latter being the pain state sound of any hellspawn except imps).

In the same version of the game, the eastern-most room (three columns and large elevator going up and down) is too tall (height equaling 304 px). Approaching closer to any one-sided wall of the room will cause its texture quietly distort.

Comparison of versions
A number of changes were made to this level compared to the PC version.

Room design

 * Textures were changed throughout the level to reduce the number of different textures used.
 * All switches use a knife switch on brown background texture (SW1BRN1).
 * Floor lamps, candles and tall techno pillars were removed from the level.
 * The grates used to make the imp "cage" in the center of the level were replaced with narrow windows.
 * The grate in front of the yellow keycard was removed.
 * In the PC version of the level, stepping on the red star in the north-western room causes a number of monsters to teleport into the room. In the console levels, the monsters are instead hidden behind a wall that opens when the star is stepped on. There is also a berserk pack hidden at the back of this alcove.
 * The four tall red firesticks around the blue keycard are replaced with two short red torches on the north-west and south-east corners.

Monster placement

 * The PlayStation and Saturn releases added pain elementals to the level on Ultra Violence skill level in the following locations:
 * One by the armor pickup in the eastern-most room.
 * One by the lift in secret #2.

PlayStation

 * The pillars in secret #2 are closer together.
 * An extra sector was added around the blue keycard which uses a blue light.

Music
The map uses the following music tracks:

Player spawns
This level contains ten spawn points:
 * 1) facing west. (thing 99)
 * 2) facing north. (thing 190)
 * 3) facing east. (thing 191)
 * 4) facing north-west. (thing 192)
 * 5) facing north-east. (thing 193)
 * 6) facing south. (thing 194)
 * 7) facing south. (thing 195)
 * 8) facing west. (thing 196)
 * 9) facing east. (thing 197)
 * 10) facing east. (thing 198)

Things
This level contains the following numbers of things per skill level: